CHAPTER 6

Seven days ago…

The Rayzada Empires headquarters stood like a kingdom of glass and steel in the heart of the city.

Inside, everything moved with precision.

Executives rushed through corridors.

Phones rang.

Employees carried files from one department to another.

And in the middle of all that chaos, Avni Sharma sat quietly at her desk.

She had been working there for nearly four months.

Four months ago, she had had nothing.

No home.

No family.

No money.

No idea what her future would look like.

Now, she had a job.

Her own apartment.

Her own bank account.

And, for the first time in her life—

A life that belonged to her.

She stared at the report on her screen, completely unaware that someone was watching her from across the office.

Harshvardhan Singh Rayzada.

He stood silently near the glass wall of his private office.

His expression was unreadable.

He had been watching Avni for several minutes.

Not because he doubted her work.

He had never had a reason to.

In four months, she had never misused the Rayzada name.

Never asked for special treatment.

Never complained about the salary.

Never behaved as though the life he had given her was something she was entitled to.

She had earned everything.

And that was exactly why he had chosen her.

Harshvardhan finally turned away.

“Send Ms. Sharma to my office.”

His secretary nodded.

“Right away, sir.”

---

A few minutes later, there was a knock.

“Come in.”

Avni entered.

“Sir, you called me?”

Harshvardhan was standing near the window, his hands behind his back.

“Yes.”

Avni waited.

Something about his silence made her uneasy.

He usually spoke directly about work.

But today, there was no file on the table.

No report.

No business discussion.

Only silence.

“Is everything alright, sir?”

Harshvardhan turned.

“No.”

The single word made Avni straighten.

He walked toward his desk and picked up a black file.

He placed it in front of her.

“Sit.”

Avni slowly sat down.

Harshvardhan took the chair opposite her.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then he pushed the file toward her.

“Open it.”

Avni hesitated before opening it.

The first photograph made her freeze.

A man.

Tall.

Sharp features.

Dark eyes.

An expression that somehow looked calm and dangerous at the same time.

He was dressed in a black suit, standing beside Harshvardhan and Revti.

Avni looked at the photograph again.

“Who is he?”

Harshvardhan's eyes hardened.

“My eldest son.”

Avni looked up.

“Arnav?”

Harshvardhan nodded.

Avni had heard his name before.

Everyone in the company knew it.

Arnav Singh Rayzada.

The missing heir.

The man whose disappearance had become one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Rayzada family.

Seven years.

Seven years without a trace.

Avni looked back at the file.

There were newspaper articles.

Search reports.

Photographs.

Police documents.

Court papers.

Old family photographs.

And finally—

A document regarding the legal declaration of death.

Avni's fingers stopped moving.

“He's going to be declared dead?”

“Two months from now.”

Her eyes slowly lifted.

Harshvardhan's voice remained calm.

But something behind that calmness was breaking.

“I have spent seven years searching for my son.”

He paused.

“I used every resource I had.”

Avni said nothing.

“Police.”

“Private investigators.”

“People across different countries.”

“Every lead.”

“Every possible location.”

“Nothing.”

He looked down at Arnav's photograph.

“Not even a body.”

Avni quietly asked,

“Then why haven't you accepted that he's gone?”

Harshvardhan looked directly at her.

“Because a father doesn't stop looking for his son simply because the world has stopped believing he'll return.”

The words silenced her.

For the first time, Avni saw something different in the powerful man sitting before her.

Not the chairman.

Not the lawyer.

Not the man everyone feared.

Just—

A father.

Harshvardhan closed the file.

“I have one last chance.”

Avni frowned.

“What chance?”

Harshvardhan leaned back.

“I need a reason for Arnav to come home.”

Avni didn't understand.

“If he's alive… wouldn't he come back because of his family?”

A bitter smile appeared on Harshvardhan's lips.

“You don't know my son.”

He looked toward the window.

“Arnav left because he believed he no longer belonged here.”

Avni remained silent.

“He thinks the truth about his birth changed everything.”

His voice became quieter.

“But it didn't.”

Harshvardhan looked back at her.

“He is still my son.”

A pause.

“My eldest son.”

Another pause.

“And my heir.”

Avni lowered her eyes.

“Then what can I do?”

Harshvardhan's answer came without hesitation.

“Become his wife.”

Avni froze.

For several seconds, she thought she had misunderstood him.

“I'm sorry?”

“Become Arnav's wife.”

Her eyes widened.

“But he's missing.”

“I know.”

“For seven years.”

“I know.”

“And I have never even met him.”

“I know.”

Avni stared at him.

“Then how exactly am I supposed to become his wife?”

Harshvardhan pushed another document toward her.

Avni looked down.

Her breath caught.

A marriage certificate.

Her name was on it.

Avni Sharma.

And beside it—

Arnav Singh Rayzada.

She looked at Harshvardhan in disbelief.

“This…”

“You don't have to create a marriage.”

His voice was calm.

“You already have one.”

Avni's hands trembled slightly.

“But this isn't real.”

Harshvardhan didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he opened another file.

Inside were photographs.

Arnav.

Avni.

Documents.

Records.

A carefully constructed story.

Everything needed to make the world believe they had been married.

Avni looked at him.

“Why me?”

Harshvardhan's eyes remained fixed on her.

“Because you are the only person I trust with this.”

“Why?”

“Because you understand what it means to lose everything.”

Avni went silent.

“You know what it means to have nowhere to go.”

Harshvardhan's voice softened slightly.

“You know what fear looks like.”

“And you also know what it means when someone gives you another chance.”

Avni's eyes dropped.

She remembered four months ago.

The road.

The rain.

The black Rolls-Royce.

The handkerchief placed in her trembling hand.

The hospital.

The apartment.

The job.

The first salary she had ever earned.

The first time she had slept without wondering whether someone would come looking for her.

Harshvardhan continued.

“I don't need an actress.”

“I need someone who can understand my son.”

Avni swallowed.

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

Harshvardhan opened the final file.

“There is one more part.”

Avni looked down.

A pregnancy report.

Her face went pale.

“No…”

Harshvardhan's voice remained steady.

“Two months pregnant.”

Avni stared at the paper.

“You want me to pretend I'm pregnant?”

“Yes.”

The room suddenly felt too quiet.

“Why?”

Harshvardhan looked at Arnav's photograph.

“Because a missing man's family may eventually stop searching for him.”

He paused.

“But a missing man's wife carrying his child…”

His eyes hardened.

“…is something the world will never ignore.”

Avni understood.

The media.

The courts.

The public.

The news.

Everything would explode.

And if Arnav was somewhere in the world—

He would hear.

He would know.

His family was still waiting.

His father had not accepted his death.

And there was now a woman claiming to carry his child.

Avni whispered,

“You want to force him to come back.”

“No.”

Harshvardhan's eyes met hers.

“I want to give him a reason to.”

Avni looked at him for a long moment.

“What if he doesn't come?”

“Then after three months, the story ends.”

“And me?”

“You walk away.”

He placed another document in front of her.

“There will be enough money for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life.”

Avni immediately pushed it back.

“I don't want your money.”

Harshvardhan's expression changed slightly.

“I expected you to say that.”

“Then why offer it?”

“Because this is a contract.”

Avni looked at him.

“And every contract has a price.”

He paused.

“But you don't have to take it.”

Silence filled the room.

Avni looked at the photograph of Arnav again.

There was something strange about his eyes.

Even in a photograph, he looked like someone who didn't belong to ordinary life.

Someone who could disappear for seven years—

And still leave an entire family waiting.

She looked back at Harshvardhan.

“Why are you doing all this?”

Harshvardhan's jaw tightened.

“Because seven years ago, my son believed that being adopted made him less of a son.”

His voice cracked, just slightly.

“I couldn't convince him otherwise.”

Avni remained silent.

“I should have told him the truth sooner.”

He looked down.

“And now I have spent seven years wondering whether my silence destroyed my son.”

A long pause.

“I don't want to lose him twice.”

Avni's heart tightened.

Harshvardhan stood.

“Blood doesn't decide who belongs to a family.”

He looked at Arnav's photograph.

“Love does.”

Then he turned toward Avni.

“I raised him.”

“I watched him take his first steps.”

“I taught him to fight.”

“I watched him become the man he is.”

“He may not carry my blood…”

His voice became firm.

“But he carries my name.”

A faint tremor passed through Avni.

Harshvardhan picked up the contract.

“If he returns, I want him to know one thing.”

“What?”

“That nothing changed.”

“He is still my eldest son.”

“Still my heir.”

“And still the child I would choose again.”

Avni looked at the contract.

Then at him.

“Why do you think this will work?”

Harshvardhan's expression became unreadable.

“Because I know my son.”

He placed the pen beside the papers.

“And because somewhere inside that stubborn, wounded man…”

He paused.

“There is still the boy who believes his father might come looking for him.”

Avni's eyes softened.

She looked down at the contract.

Three months.

That was all.

Three months to pretend.

Three months to become a wife she had never been.

Three months to carry a child that didn't exist.

Three months to convince the world—

And hopefully one missing man—

That Arnav Singh Rayzada was still alive.

Her fingers slowly closed around the pen.

“Alright.”

Harshvardhan watched her.

“You're agreeing?”

Avni nodded.

“But not because of the money.”

“I know.”

“I'm doing this because of what you did for me.”

Harshvardhan said nothing.

“You gave me a life when I had nothing.”

Avni signed the contract.

“If this is the only way I can repay you…”

She placed the pen down.

“I'll do it.”

Harshvardhan picked up the signed papers.

For the first time that evening, something resembling relief crossed his face.

“Thank you.”

Avni stood.

She was about to leave when Harshvardhan spoke again.

“Avni.”

She turned.

“Yes?”

His expression had changed.

The warmth was gone.

The chairman had returned.

“From today onward, you must remember one thing.”

“What?”

“Everyone will believe your story.”

He paused.

“So you cannot afford to forget it yourself.”

Avni nodded slowly.

Harshvardhan opened the door.

“Tomorrow, you will begin preparing.”

Avni walked out.

The door closed behind her.

She stood alone in the corridor.

Her eyes fell on the reflection of herself in the glass.

A woman who had entered Rayzada Empires four months ago with nothing…

Was now legally connected to the missing heir of one of India's most powerful families.

She looked at the contract in her hand.

Then whispered—

“Arnav Singh Rayzada…”

“Wherever you are…”

“Please come home.”

---

Present Day

Avni opened her eyes.

The memory disappeared.

She was back in the Rayzada mansion.

The media reports were still spreading across the country.

MISSING RAYZADA HEIR ALIVE?

MYSTERY WOMAN CLAIMS TO BE ARNAV RAYZADA'S WIFE

MISSING HEIR'S WIFE TWO MONTHS PREGNANT

Avni stared at the television.

Her stomach tightened.

Millions of people now believed her lie.

Revti believed her.

The world believed her.

Even the courts were beginning to believe that Arnav Singh Rayzada might still be alive.

But there was one person whose reaction mattered more than anyone else's.

Arnav.

Avni slowly turned off the television.

Silence returned to the room.

Then—

Her phone vibrated.

Unknown Number.

She stared at it.

Once.

Twice.

The phone vibrated again.

With trembling fingers, she opened the message.

There was only one line.

“I saw the news.”

Avni's blood ran cold.

Another message appeared.

“Tell my father…”

Three dots appeared.

Then disappeared.

Then appeared again.

Finally—

“He should have known better than to play this game with me.”

Avni stopped breathing.

Because only one person in the world could have sent that message.

Arnav Singh Rayzada.

AUTHOR NOTE ---

ARNAV IS COMING SOON😉